Portland mayoral candidate's restaurant owes back rent, taxes

Sho Dozono seeks a renegotiated lease and says construction
has blocked access to the front door

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

ANDY DWORKIN

The Oregonian Staff

The restaurant owned by Portland mayoral candidate Sho
Dozono owes the city more than $16,000 in back rent and
taxes, including property taxes unpaid since July 2007.

Dozono said Tuesday that the restaurant is delaying payment
in hopes the city will renegotiate the lease. Portland
officials said they may ask their lawyers to help collect
the debt.

Dozono is running for mayor as an experienced community
leader and businessman, best known for running Azumano
Travel. He also is president and majority owner of Bush
Garden, a Japanese restaurant that leases 8,776 square feet
in the city-owned SmartPark garage at Southwest 10th Avenue
and Yamhill Street.

The city wants to redevelop and spruce up the parking garage
but has no firm plans to start and so didn't grant Bush
Garden the long-term lease that owners wanted last year.

Instead, Portland renegotiated with tenants and cut their
rent. Bush Garden's rent went from $6,032.46 to $3,000
starting in January 2007 -- cheap for downtown retail space.
Dozono signed an agreement then to pay the rent plus a share
of tenant fees and property taxes, a bill that's now
$5,907 a month, city records show.

Bush Garden hasn't paid rent or tenant fees for March
or April, though they're due the first of the month.
And it hasn't paid its share of property taxes since at
least February.

In addition, the city notified Bush Garden in January that
it was late in paying $8,178.17 to cover its share of
property taxes for July 1, 2007, through Jan. 31, 2008. In
February, the city credited about $5,000 in unused tenant
fees to that debt, cutting the tax-due bill to roughly
$3,000.

After not paying for three more months, the tax bill hit
$6,590.30 April 18, when Portland mailed a "demand for
payment" to the restaurant's general manager and
to a representative of Azumano Group.

That letter said Bush Garden owes $16,067.68. On Tuesday,
city property manager Diana Holuka said the charges were
$18,404.25.

"Having contacted the tenant, sent letters, tried to
work out a solution . . . the next step appears to be to go
to the city attorney," Holuka said. She and her bosses
will decide whether to do that this week.

Dozono said the city shares blame for Bush Garden's
problems, noting that construction has blocked nearby
streets, closing Ninth Avenue in front of the
restaurant's door for most of April. That closure is
for work on a 35-story tower being built by a private
company, TMT Development. But the city's Office of
Transportation issued permits for the work.

Different city bureaus permit street closures and lease
SmartPark space. But, Dozono said, "the city is
ultimately the entity that controls both."

"If you had a business and your landlord closed the
street in front of your business, would you happily pay
rent? Or would you negotiate?" he said.

Asked how much of Bush Garden he owns, Dozono said, "I
think it's 75 percent or so." He said he
doesn't get involved with daily operations and
"might go there once a month." He didn't know
about the growing debt until April 18, he said.

Dozono has asked business partners to negotiate with the
city, he said. Bush Garden wants less space, perhaps just
enough to run a sushi counter, and lower rent until
construction is completed and the garage's future is
known, he said. If he can't get new lease terms, Dozono
said he may "mothball" the restaurant until
construction is finished or close it.

"Without us, there would be no rent," he said.
"We're trying to keep the restaurant going."

But if the city won't discuss the lease, Dozono added,
"I would pay it and be done with it," including
paying any penalties. Dozono said he could easily pay
$18,000, even with a business credit card, if needed.

Holuka said construction and month-to-month leasing make
running a business harder. But Bush Garden still has a
responsibility to pay rent as it agreed, she said.

The other 10th and Yamhill tenant, The Real Mother Goose,
has paid its rent on time, Holuka said. Of the city's
several hundred renters, perhaps two or three a month are
delinquent, she said.

Dozono said the rent payment is a business issue, not a
political one. But it feeds concerns about his financial
history, which includes late debt payments, loans from
high-interest lenders and borrowing $1 million from a young
boy's trust fund that Dozono oversaw. He has said he
repaid all those debts.

Portland mayoral candidate's restaurant owes back rent, taxes

Sho Dozono seeks a renegotiated lease and says construction
has blocked access to the front door

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

ANDY DWORKIN

The Oregonian Staff

The restaurant owned by Portland mayoral candidate Sho
Dozono owes the city more than $16,000 in back rent and
taxes, including property taxes unpaid since July 2007.

Dozono said Tuesday that the restaurant is delaying payment
in hopes the city will renegotiate the lease. Portland
officials said they may ask their lawyers to help collect
the debt.

Dozono is running for mayor as an experienced community
leader and businessman, best known for running Azumano
Travel. He also is president and majority owner of Bush
Garden, a Japanese restaurant that leases 8,776 square feet
in the city-owned SmartPark garage at Southwest 10th Avenue
and Yamhill Street.

The city wants to redevelop and spruce up the parking garage
but has no firm plans to start and so didn't grant Bush
Garden the long-term lease that owners wanted last year.

Instead, Portland renegotiated with tenants and cut their
rent. Bush Garden's rent went from $6,032.46 to $3,000
starting in January 2007 -- cheap for downtown retail space.
Dozono signed an agreement then to pay the rent plus a share
of tenant fees and property taxes, a bill that's now
$5,907 a month, city records show.

Bush Garden hasn't paid rent or tenant fees for March
or April, though they're due the first of the month.
And it hasn't paid its share of property taxes since at
least February.

In addition, the city notified Bush Garden in January that
it was late in paying $8,178.17 to cover its share of
property taxes for July 1, 2007, through Jan. 31, 2008. In
February, the city credited about $5,000 in unused tenant
fees to that debt, cutting the tax-due bill to roughly
$3,000.

After not paying for three more months, the tax bill hit
$6,590.30 April 18, when Portland mailed a "demand for
payment" to the restaurant's general manager and
to a representative of Azumano Group.

That letter said Bush Garden owes $16,067.68. On Tuesday,
city property manager Diana Holuka said the charges were
$18,404.25.

"Having contacted the tenant, sent letters, tried to
work out a solution . . . the next step appears to be to go
to the city attorney," Holuka said. She and her bosses
will decide whether to do that this week.

Dozono said the city shares blame for Bush Garden's
problems, noting that construction has blocked nearby
streets, closing Ninth Avenue in front of the
restaurant's door for most of April. That closure is
for work on a 35-story tower being built by a private
company, TMT Development. But the city's Office of
Transportation issued permits for the work.

Different city bureaus permit street closures and lease
SmartPark space. But, Dozono said, "the city is
ultimately the entity that controls both."

"If you had a business and your landlord closed the
street in front of your business, would you happily pay
rent? Or would you negotiate?" he said.

Asked how much of Bush Garden he owns, Dozono said, "I
think it's 75 percent or so." He said he
doesn't get involved with daily operations and
"might go there once a month." He didn't know
about the growing debt until April 18, he said.

Dozono has asked business partners to negotiate with the
city, he said. Bush Garden wants less space, perhaps just
enough to run a sushi counter, and lower rent until
construction is completed and the garage's future is
known, he said. If he can't get new lease terms, Dozono
said he may "mothball" the restaurant until
construction is finished or close it.

"Without us, there would be no rent," he said.
"We're trying to keep the restaurant going."

But if the city won't discuss the lease, Dozono added,
"I would pay it and be done with it," including
paying any penalties. Dozono said he could easily pay
$18,000, even with a business credit card, if needed.

Holuka said construction and month-to-month leasing make
running a business harder. But Bush Garden still has a
responsibility to pay rent as it agreed, she said.

The other 10th and Yamhill tenant, The Real Mother Goose,
has paid its rent on time, Holuka said. Of the city's
several hundred renters, perhaps two or three a month are
delinquent, she said.

Dozono said the rent payment is a business issue, not a
political one. But it feeds concerns about his financial
history, which includes late debt payments, loans from
high-interest lenders and borrowing $1 million from a young
boy's trust fund that Dozono oversaw. He has said he
repaid all those debts.